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Alderman, 2 reporters arrested as Ferguson erupts for 4th night

Ferguson, Missouri, remains a powder keg of unrest after the death of teenager Michael Brown. Late Wednesday, two reporters were taken into custody for documenting events. Cops used tear gas to control the fray.

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Alderman, 2 reporters arrested as Ferguson erupts for 4th night

Ferguson, Missouri erupted into a fourth night of rioting following the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, by a police officer. Now, it's journalists who are getting caught up in the fray.

FERGUSON, Mo. — Hopes for peace here after three nights of rioting were dashed when another demonstration in the wake of teenager Michael Brown's death brought a huge show of force from both protesters and police.

Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman who had been posting frequent photos and video of the protests and police response, was taken to the Ferguson jail and arrested for unlawful assembly, his wife, Jasenka Benac French, said via Twitter.

Journalists in the St. Louis suburb to cover the fray wound up being part of the story when two were detained at a McDonald's restaurant where members of the media were charging cellphones and writing.

Reporters Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post and Ryan Reilly of The Huffington Post said on Twitter that police told them to stop recording the chaos, then took them into custody.

Brown, a black teenager, died Saturday after being shot by a police officer. The 18-year-old was unarmed.

African Americans are two-thirds of the population of this St. Louis suburb, but they account for nine out of 10 stops by police. The 53-member police force includes three African Americans.

That disparity has led to long-simmering tensions that flared when a police officer, still unidentified, fatally shot Brown, who was walking to his grandmother's home Saturday afternoon with a friend.

Throughout the city on Wednesday, dozens of officers set up barricades, blocking most main roads. As the sun set, the loud flash of grenades and the whir of helicopters filled the area. Tear gas was dispersed, so much that the stinging air lingered for hours.

Members of the crowd hurled Molotov cocktails and other objects at police, according to the Associated Press.

Police yelled "Hold the line" and "Stop your vehicle." As three vehicles approached a QuickTrip store that had burned on Sunday night, officers in bulletproof vests drew and pointed rifles at the cars.

The sound of apparent gunshots was heard nearby and police officers began to back away from protesters who approached them with their hands raised.

One officer told a reporter trying to get a live shot, "Get down! It will look bad if you get shot."

Late Wednesday night, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced via Twitter that he had canceled his scheduled Thursday appearances at the Missouri State Fair to go to St. Louis County.

Earlier Wednesday, after four days of angry calls for reform and tear gas lobbed at protesters, the city's police chief that healing racial discord here has become a "top priority" and he welcomes outside help.

"Race relations is a top priority right now," Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said. "I've been trying to increase the diversity of the department since I got here."

Protests outside police department

A crowd of about 100 people gathered outside the Ferguson Police Station at midnight. Protesters screamed now-familiar chants of those moved by the death of Brown: "No justice, no peace," "What if this was your child?" and "Hands up, don't shoot."

Added to those were: "Hey, hey. Hey, ho. These killer cops have got to go."

The scene, without tear gas and police in riot gear, was much calmer than earlier demonstrations. People mainly stood around holding signs while a group played the drums outside a Ferguson Fire Station across the street

Alderman French, a popular politician in the 21st Ward who has organized summer jazz concerts, had been tweeting, posting Vines, and talking to national media about the protests and increasingly heavy police response.

His wife, who uses the twitter handle @senka, tweeted Wednesday evening that "@antonioFrench is in Ferguson jail," and that he had been arrested. She updated to say the charges were for unlawful custody and that he'd be held for 24 hours.

Benac French, whose Twitter account is followed by President Barack Obama, directed those tweets at politicians including U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and Gov. Nixon. She later said others who had been protesting outside the police department were arrested, including community activists.

City asks for daylight protests

City officials issued a statement Wednesday expressing sympathy for the Brown family and asking people to confine their demonstrations to daylight hours to maintain calm. That didn't happen.

Jackson has said the officer was assaulted by Brown and that the officer was pushed into his squad car, where a scuffle over his gun resulted in a gunshot. They emerged from the car and the officer fired several shots. Brown lay dead.

The officer then shoved open the car door, grabbed Brown around the neck and was pulling him through the window, Johnson said.

"The second time he says, 'I'll shoot.' A second later, the gun went off and he let go," Johnson said. "That's how we were able to run at the same time."

Johnson said he ducked behind a car as the officer continued shooting at them, hitting Brown in the back.

A member of the Federal Protective Service asks demonstrators to stay off the steps leading to the Thomas F. Eagleton federal courthouse during a protest in St. Louis. About 100 protesters marched from city hall to the courthouse as they continue to press for broader reforms to local and federal law enforcement following the shooting death of Michael Brown by police. (Photo: Jeff Roberson, AP)

Members of the Tauheed Youth Group pray with demonstrators and members of the 'Justice for Michael Brown Leadership Coalition' during a march near the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton, Mo. (Photo: Larry W. Smith, epa)

People pray after marching about a mile to the police station to protest the shooting of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Brown's shooting on Aug. 9 by a Ferguson police officer has sparked more than week of protests, riots and looting in the St. Louis suburb. (Photo: Charlie Riedel, AP)

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder shakes hands with Bri Ehsan, 25, following his meeting with students at St. Louis Community College-Florissant Valley in Ferguson, Mo. Holder was in Ferguson to oversea the federal government's investigation into the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer on Aug. 9th. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, pool)

A citizen peacekeeper tries to keep protesters back as police advance on Aug. 18 in Ferguson, Mo. The Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer has touched off demonstrations in the St. Louis suburb where police have used riot gear and tear gas against protesters. (Photo: Christian Gooden, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, via AP)

Attorney Benjamin Crump, left, holds a diagram produced during a second autopsy of shooting victim Michael Brown as forensic pathologist Michael Balden speaks at a news conference Aug. 18 in Ferguson, Mo. The independent autopsy shows Brown was shot at least six times on Aug. 9 by a Ferguson police officer. (Photo: Jeff Roberson, AP)

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"His (Brown's) hands immediately went into the air and he turned around to the officer," Johnson recalled. "My friend started to tell the officer that he was unarmed and that he could stop shooting (him). Before he could get his second sentence out, the officer fired several more shots into his head and chest area."

He added: "It was definitely like being shot like an animal. ... I definitely think (the officer) is guilty of murder."

Anthony Gray, a lawyer for Michael Brown's family, said the teen's body was turned over to the family Wednesday afternoon. He said the family was hiring someone to perform a second autopsy.

Jackson said his department is working with the Justice Department's community relations experts to address the community's racial strife. He said he hoped to arrange a meeting with Brown's relatives as early as Thursday.

Legal association files for officer's name

Police refused again on Wednesday to identify the officer or his race, citing threats that have been made against the police force.

The National Bar Association, whose membership is predominantly African-American, filed a records request Wednesday demanding the name, gender, rank, race, age and seniority of the officer. The organization also asked for information about the past conduct of the officer and any information about his or her use or alleged use of force against any suspects while with the Ferguson Police Department.

"We believe for the sake of transparency and for the sake of bringing calmness to the community, it is imperative that they release the name," said the association's president, Pamela Meanes. "I think a lot of the frustration and a lot of the disruption is because people don't trust the process."

Meanes said if the officer's name isn't disclosed by Monday, her group would ask a county judge to order police to release it.

St. Louis city and county are among the most segregated areas in the country.

Priscilla Dowden-White, a history professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said the anger, rioting and violence that have shaken Ferguson are a legacy of the racial segregation of the region.

"This is rooted in how the St. Louis community developed racially," she said. "This was a situation that was bound to occur."

St. Louis was at the epicenter of the fight against housing discrimination against blacks. In 1916, the city passed an ordinance that prohibited blacks from buying homes in or moving to predominantly white communities. The law was struck down in 1917.

But racially restricted covenants, which prohibited homeowners from selling a house to blacks, remained in effect until 1948, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the legally binding agreements after hearing the case of a black homebuyer in St. Louis.

Dowden-White said what followed was a migration of blacks to the northern suburbs of St. Louis County, including Ferguson. Still, real estate agents steered African Americans in certain directions.

"African Americans were relegated to certain communities," said Dowden-White.

A child holds aloft a sign in Ferguson, Mo., before the fourth night of rioting began.(Photo: James Bernhard, KSDK-TV, St. Louis)

That segregation, coupled with high unemployment, no wealth, low homeownership and few quality schools, resulted in communities steeped in poverty, she said.

"What we are seeing is the impact of poverty," she said. "And the legacy of poverty breeds a volatile situation. … We are seeing the response of people who are angry and cannot see a way out."

Stop and search

Terrell Marshall, 24, of Ferguson, said he has experienced what those numbers mean firsthand. In July, he said, he was walking home through Canfield Green Apartments, where Brown was shot, when police officers stopped him. The officers grabbed his luggage, emptied his belongings onto the ground and searched him, he said. He said he went along with the treatment he has seen others in his neighborhood endure.

"The police have been harassing people for a long time," he said. "The shooting shed some light on this, but there is still stuff out there."